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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Communication in heart failure
— perspectives from older people and primary care professionals | | Author(s) | Sarah Barnes, Merryn Gott, Sheila Payne |
| Journal title | Health & Social Care in the Community, vol 14, no 6, November 2006 |
| Pages | pp 482-490 |
| Source | www.blackwellpublishing.com/hsc |
| Keywords | Heart disease ; General practice ; Communication ; Patients ; Attitude ; Qualitative Studies ; East Devon ; Hampshire ; Bradford ; Barnsley. |
| Annotation | In research conducted by the Sheffield Institute for Studies in Ageing (SISA), the objective was to explore the attitudes of older people and primary care professionals towards communication of diagnosis, prognosis and symptoms in heart failure. 44 interviews were conducted with people aged 60+ with heart failure recruited from general practices in East Devon, West Hampshire, Bradford and Barnsley. Ten focus groups were held with primary care professionals involved in heart failure management. Thematic analysis found that participants reported problems with communication, including not being given enough information about their condition, or being given complex information that they did not understand. Many understood little about heart failure and the causes of, and ways to manage, their symptoms. Few participants had had discussions about the prognosis with any health professional, and this was confirmed in professional accounts. Difficulties with terminology were frequently reported: to avoid causing anxiety, a diagnosis of 'heart failure' was rarely communicated to patients. Educational needs were identified by most primary care professionals in relation to heart failure management and specifically in relation to communication. Thus, communication was identified as being inadequate within primary care from both patient and professional perspectives. These findings point to a need for an educational intervention tailored specifically to improving primary care professionals' communication skills regarding chronic heart failure. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-061213214 A |
| Classmark | CQH: L5: U: LF: DP: 3DP: 8DEF: 8H: 88A: 85A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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